On the other hand, why would the FBI claim they were lost if they were so easily recoverable?

That's easy.

Claim the texts were lost, to give time to filter them, and remove any "sensitive" ones.

Then, claim that the texts are now found, so that you can release the bunch (now filtered), and satisfy the investigators that they got it all back,
so they'll stop looking.

Remember, Hillary did exactly the same thing, removing all emails that contained "top secret" classifications, before handing over the collection of
emails. Except, she missed a few classified emails, because they weren't marked as classified in the subject heading, like most of the rest, they just
contained some references to classified material in the body of the email itself.

To everything there's a purpose under the sun. [KJV, Ecclesiastes 3:1]

3. The NSA captures all traffic through email and texts and has redundant backup processes, offline archiving, and raid clustering

4. Its even possible that Foreign friendly intelligence agencies also monitors email and text traffic and has redundant backup processes, offline
archiving, and raid clustering

By saying they need to recover them versus actually stating that they have them, it allows them to select what they get to release and gives them the
option of Plausible deniability. Is it coincidence that the same thing happened with Hillary when they could only recover it? The recovering line
gives them the best option to cover their own Arse.

Sadly I wouldn't hold my breath on anything but harsh language coming from this. Just like the CEO and bankers who got harsh language from congress
but ended laughing to the bank.

"After reviewing the voluminous records on the FBI’s servers, which included over 50,000 texts, the Inspector General discovered the FBI’s
system failed to retain text messages for approximately 5 months between December 14, 2016 to May 17, 2017,” Sessions said.
That number does not include the five months’ worth of texts that are missing.

You nailed it. Every time there is a new scandal, a magic window opens for just long enough for all the "evidence " to magically disappear.
It's so blatant it makes me sick. It's sedition at best, treason at worst, and still nothing ever happens about it or the agencies and actors
involved.

Sadly I wouldn't hold my breath on anything but harsh language coming from this. Just like the CEO and bankers who got harsh language from congress
but ended laughing to the bank.

I agree, nothing will come from all of this, it's a nice years-long distraction that the media will keep using and dragging out to keep our minds
occupied instead of focusing on more important things.

There's a reason every tiny detail about this thing is being made so public so quickly, it's bread and circus for people to chew on while other things
are done around the corner while we're not looking.

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